So, some preliminary thoughts on Horizon Zero Dawn. It's an open-world game, somewhat in the pattern of the Elder Scrolls games, but you can't choose your character. You play as Aloy, a young woman with a (so far) mysterious background who lives in a post-apocalyptic world. [Given the landscape and some hints in the "ancient ruins" you encounter, Aloy and the various people she encounters live in what's today Colorado, near Denver.]

The main threats you encounter are animalistic machines -- virtually all of which are immediately hostile toward any humans they encounter. So far, the game hasn't given an actual explanation for their existence, but it seems that discovering their origin and purpose -- and stopping them from wiping out the few remaining humans -- is a big part of what Aloy will eventually achieve.

The game doesn't give you anywhere near the same degree of options for customizing your character and playstyle as does a game like Skyrim. But on the other hand, the enemies you encounter are truly dangerous. Aloy may be a skilled warrior, but there are plenty of enemies who can kill her with a single hit. As such, you have to play smart -- rushing in to do hand-to-hand (er ... hand to claw) combat with even the weakest of the machines will get you killed PDQ. So, you have to learn the strengths and weaknesses of various enemies, figure out which weapons will be most effective against different enemies, employ stealth, learn how to set traps, etc.

All in all, it isn't as gripping as Oblivion or Skyrim, but I'm quite enjoying it so far. The closest equivalent that I've played might by The Witcher 3, because Aloy, like Geralt, is fully voiced. I've never finished The Witcher 3, though; I've played it off-and-on for over a year now, but the story just doesn't seem that gripping, and I don't particularly like Geralt as a character. Aloy is much more personable and likable.

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“The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be.”

I went ahead and bought The Freedom Chronicles, the DLC for Wolfenstein II, mostly because I wanted to reward Bethesda for publishing an old-school, linear first-person shooter that isn't lousy with gambling/microtransactions. It's fun, and you get to slaughter Nazis as three characters other that B.J. Blaszkowicz. The second installment goes live next week.

My stepson gave me an Xbox Live gift card for Christmas, and I used part of that to buy Wolfenstein: The New Order from 2014. It's actually a better game in multiple respects, and only cost $12.

__________________"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." ~ Louis D. Brandeis

So, I've finished Horizon Zero Dawn. I really enjoyed it, though I wonder how much re-play value it has.

It has an interesting and engaging story, and Aloy is quite an interesting character. Some might find her constant comments on the current situation to become annoying after awhile, but I didn't mind, since she's varied enough in her commentary that you don't keep hearing the same phrase over and over again. It helps that Aloy has an engaging and interesting personality. (As much as I wanted to, I just couldn't get into The Witcher 3, because I didn't care for Geralt's personality -- this isn't a problem for Horizon Zero Dawn.)

You'll probably figure out the "twist" regarding Aloy's origin pretty quickly, but the mystery regarding the Machines' origins and why they've recently become so hostile will keep you guessing 'til nearly the end. Similarly, the mystery of how humanity survived The Great Extinction will keep you guessing 'til the end.

They didn't. The Machines wiped out essentially all life on Earth. The people currently occupying Earth are not descendants of those who survived The Great Extinction -- they were cloned by GAIA centuries later, to repopulate the Earth after she repaired its destroyed ecosystems. (This also neatly explains the simplistic ecosystems that Aloy encounters. That bugged me early in the game, until it became clear that there's actually a good explanation.)

Too bad one egotistical jerk destroyed APOLLO, relegating the new generation of humans to a life devoid of all the knowledge their ancestors had painstakingly accumulated and that Elizabet Sobeck and the Zero Dawn workers had worked so hard to preserve.

The graphics are superb -- man, I wish that Skyrim SE had graphics that were anywhere near this good! The voice acting is superb as well. Again, Bethesda should take note: this is important when it comes to making compelling characters -- hire really good voice actors!

Combat is fairly simple, but Aloy is no Dragonborn. Even at low levels, there are plenty of Machines that can kill her almost instantly, especially if she lets them get close. She can kill almost anything with her bow, so long as she manages to keep them at a distance, but even the weakest machines will shred her in seconds if they get close enough for hand-to-hand combat.

So, learning each Machine's strengths and weaknesses is a must -- as is learning how to set traps and how to use each weapon most efficiently.

My least-favorite machine? Probably Stalkers. Those suckers will set traps for you. Did I mention that they're fast and agile enough to dodge arrows? Did I mention that they have guns, and if you try to keep far-enough away to pick them off with arrows, they'll be shooting back? Did I mention that they're smart enough to lead you if you try to dodge their fire?

Did I mention that they're absolutely lethal if they get close enough to engage you physically? And did I mention that they can camouflage? So, all too often, the first hint that you get that one's about is when it pounces on you or opens fire. And since the nasty things often travel in groups, while you're dealing with the one that's shooting at you, there's likely another one sneaking up behind you ...

That having been said, a Stalker gave me perhaps my happiest moment in the game. I was about to enter a ruin when I noticed signs that a Stalker might be in the area, so I paused at the entrance to the ruin and laid down some traps. Then I made some noise to hopefully lure it in, so that it would blunder into my trap. Nothing. So, I cautiously entered the ruin, keeping an eye (and ear) open for Stalker activity. Nothing. Eventually, I figured that I must have been mistaken about Stalkers being in the area and forgot about it.

Then, just as I was exiting the ruin, a Stalker appeared. Oh crap. And then the nasty bugger ran right into the traps I'd set up upon entering the ruin and killed itself. Happy times, indeed.

My only complaint about the game is that it seems too short. And because it's so dependent on the story, I worry how enjoyable it would be on a second play-through given that you already know the answers to the mysteries that Aloy is trying to unravel.

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“The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be.”

It adds another interesting story line and some interesting characters, along with some new, even nastier Machines.

The game really needs more side quests, so The Frozen Wilds is a very welcome addition. (Also, you can get some really good weapons with The Frozen Wilds.)

Also, if you haven't done so, collect those power cores! If you get all of them, you can use them to get the Shield Weaver Armor, which is awesome. With it, Aloy is virtually immune to attack -- for a short while.

And if you don't get a bit misty-eyed at the end, when you're defending Meridian -- when you're informed that lots of people came to help not for money (shards) or to defend Meridian per se, but because of Aloy -- then something's definitely wrong. To see how Aloy has gone from being despised by her own people for something that most-definitely was not her fault to being revered throughout the land is heart-warming indeed.

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“The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be.”

PUBG Mobile!
Omg I forgot the adrenaline rush of a good shooter! Lots of fun and plays great on an ipad even with on screen touch controls. A battle royal third person perspective shooter/survival game. 100 players Start from scratch each time, collect weapons and kill others while not getting killed as one death and youre out, or be stealthy and peaceful evading killing anyone into the final few still alive. Winning a chicken dinner at the end. They smartly dump new players in with a lot of bots and only expose them to large numbers of decent players later allowing you to get a handle on the game play.
Currently my ‘solo rank’ is in the top 10,000.

I've been playing Subway Surf for years now until their latest update. They demanded some specific phone information so they could serve you more targeted advertising but assured you that it could be disabled in the settings. unfortunately, what they did not say was that your continued usage of their application was contingent on agreeing to this which is only stated after the fact.

Needless to say, I immediately removed the application from my phone. It is odd not playing the game on a daily basis anymore. Oh well. You try to shove targeted advertising on me and I will balk.